By IANS,
New Delhi : In a major initiative to nurture the grass-root level and find new football talent, Satyam Computer Services is organising an inter-collegiate tournament featuring universities across India.
Satyam Football Challenge, which kicked-off in Kolkata Tuesday, will have 4,000 Colleges from universities of nine states competing.
Satyam, the first Indian company to be FIFA’s official partner for 2010 and 2014 World Cup, will have more universities competing in the tournament from next year.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said that an intercollegiate tournament will help grow the talent pool in India.
“A talent hunt in university and college level is a challenging task. It is Satyam’s own initiative and their effort is laudable. No corporate house has come forward to help the national football with such programme,” Dasmunsi said in a press conference to announce the league.
“This tournament will be of immense help for Indian football. It is our job to get the best out of this competition. We will have to ensure that the talent pool which comes up in this tournament gets all the back-up and support,” he said.
Satyam Computer Services Ltd founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju said that the company is committed to help football.
“Football is the most popular global sport. It will be much more popular in India in coming years. We thought this is the right time to promote the game in the colleges and at various levels.”